Wings of Rotary hosts 9 students

The Ponca City Rotary Club recently hosted 9 high school students from Japan and their team leader, Rotarian Chihiro Matsura through the Wings of Rotary program.

The Wings of Rotary program is a two-week exchange between District 5750 (Oklahoma) and District 2520, located in the northern prefecture of Iwate, Japan. This program is for high school students to experience another culture and gain a greater sense of the world and a deeper understanding of themselves and their culture, while promoting global understanding.

While in Ponca City, the group stayed with host families and attended activities including tours of the Marland Mansion, Standing Bear, the Ponca City Library, City Hall, Ponca City High School, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Pioneer Woman. They attended a Rotary club meeting and enjoyed an evening at Evans Ranch, where they were able to shoot clay pigeons. They also visited the Sooner Cattle Ranch in Pawhuska.

Each student also had an evening to enjoy with their host families.

Ponca City was just one of the stops on their Oklahoma tour. They also visited Stillwater, Midwest City, Edmond, OKC, Geary-Hinton, and Weatherford.

Team members include team leader Chihiro Matsura and students Aya Miura, Sakura Endo, Tomoka Shimatsu, Yuri Yoshida, Kanako Sugawa, Mizuki Ogino, Sakura Narui, Ryoto Aoto, and Yodai Okada. Host families were Kelly and Cheryl Johnson, David and Theresa Lewis, Ken and Marcie Batschelett, Marc and Holly LaBossiere, and Ralph and Pauletta Beaty.

Rotary is a service organizations that strives to improve the quality of life in their communities, promote high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace. There are more than 33,000 Rotary clubs in the world. Rotarians are business, professional, and community leaders who volunteer their time and talents to serve others. Rotary Youth Exchange is just one of their service activities.